iam kind new at this so please be kind. what part does studio monitors play in yoiur studio, i have pc speakers that are creative,but do i really need monitors, also do i need headphones? thanks
my current setup is guitr, compressor, drum mAchine and mixer, i sdee lot of mkonitors are costly lot of them i see are quite small, do these smaller ones lack quality, these are the items im considering
Your monitors are going to play a key role in your studio. Studio monitors are designed to be a "flat reference" for your music, meaning they do not hype certain frequencies or attenuate others to be pleasing.
Consumer speakers in general have certain frequencies hyped and others played down to be pleasing to the ears. Most of them boost the lows and highs, while cutting out some of the mid range (around 3k...that is where alarm clocks and smoke detectors live, generally). A pair of studio monitors are used to give you an accurate representation of what your recording/mix actually sounds like.
Headphones are also a good reference when mixing, but you should avoid working strictly with headphones. I like the Audio Technica ATH M40 headphones, and I do my drum programming with ATH D40 phones. The M40s are designed to be a flat frequency response headphone, while the D40s have a bump in the low end.
As for studio monitor recommendations, in the low price range, the Event Tuned Reference monitors are a good pair. I wouldn't go too cheap with monitors. You really do get what you pay for with them.